


Being Better

by Hexlorde



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Angst, Fictober 2019, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, maybe ooc?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 23:53:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20882741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hexlorde/pseuds/Hexlorde
Summary: When Erik sees the destruction wrought by one of his dubious "allies" he knows that he can't just stand by.





	Being Better

**Author's Note:**

> This is in response to Fictober's Day 3 prompt "Now? Now you listen to me?"
> 
> Small disclaimer: I'm not super familiar with the Movieverse, so forgive me if I'm terribly OOC.

By the time that any of the heroes realize that Sabertooth triggered the bombs, it was too late. The telltale ‘Beep!’ was barely loud enough to be heard over the roar of battle, and anyone close enough to stop it had been wrapped up in their respective battles. There had been screams as the first one had gone off, drawing the attention of everyone still locked in combat. Flames had licked the side of a building before hitting a gas container, sending shrapnel everywhere as it exploded as well.

Magneto had seen the first pieces tear into a group of teenagers who were huddled between the battle and the building. He had watched as a girl tried to stop her friend from bleeding out. He had watched as a boy screamed in pain as he held his leg. He had watched as the building behind them went up in flames. “This was never what I wanted,” he thought as he watched a child stumble into the street, bawling for their mother as the clutched at a scorched scrap of cloth.

He didn’t think when the second explosion went off. He saw the area where Sabertooth and the rest of his group were avoiding and dashed over, forming a metal shield as he went. Just as he reached the group of people huddled behind an overturned car the next bomb went off, sending bits of concrete hurling towards them.

He didn’t think when he moved the entire shield over the civilians. He managed to keep it there until the shrapnel stopped, despite the pain that tore through his side. As his knees buckled the metal that he had been holding up fell to the ground, narrowly missing a man in a suit as he scrambled backward. Magneto himself wasn’t so lucky, and he winced as a mangled pipe fell on his leg. It wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things though; everything except for his side and his head was going numb.

“Erik!” The shout sounded like it came from far away, though when he turned his head he saw that Charles was only a few yards away. It took a little bit for Erik’s mind to catch up to the fact that he was lying down, and by the time that it did Charles was suddenly on the ground next to him.

“No, no no no no,” the telepath was saying. “What happened? Did someone get past your helmet?”

Erik hadn’t realized just how used to Charles’s voice inside his head until he had put on the helmet and blocked everything out. It was nice to hear it again, to know for certain that he wasn’t alone in his mind. The other man was crying though, his hands pressing on something on Erik’s side. There was pressure on whatever was hurting there, and he just barely managed to lift his head to look; his whole side was covered with red that rapidly covered Charles’s hands as well.

He let his head drop back down to the ground with a thump. “So that’s why you’re over here… Figures that it’s nothing like a proper reunion,” he says. The words aren’t coming out like they’re supposed to, all sharp edges that he had trained into his voice after he had first split from Charles, but he takes some comfort from knowing that the other man can probably see what he means. It’s a shame that we never got our proper reunion.

It’s all lost on Charles though, and he sobs as he leans over the wound. “Why did you do this? You could have protected yourself and yet you threw your shield away!” His voice is raw and broken, and one of his hands has moved from the wound to hold Erik’s hand.

Despite everything Erik found himself laughing, coughing up blood as he did so. “Th- the explosion was about to hit those people. Didn’t you always harp on saving the innocents?” he said.

Charles laughed as well, a wet, hollow sound that didn’t sound right from the determined man that Erik knew. The laugh turned into another sob, and Charles said “Now? Now you listen to me? Why?”

Erik couldn’t help but smile, even though his vision was going black around the edges. The pain had faded away to a dull throb, and it took so much effort to say “I wanted to be better for you.” His eyes slipped closed.

* * *

Charles huddled over Erik’s body, one hand on the gash that had stopped bleeding and the other holding a hand that was quickly going cold. “Erik? Erik come on, wake up,” he said, even though he could feel that his oldest friend was gone. There wasn’t anything left of Erik’s mind, nothing left of his pulse or breath.

Charles vaguely knew that the X-Men were behind him, making their way towards him. They were probably wondering why he was out of his wheelchair, why Magneto had done what he did. The younger ones that hadn’t seen them together were probably wondering why he was so distressed over the death of a man they had seen hurt him.

He didn’t look at them. Instead, he reached out and closed Erik’s eyes, feeling tears streaming from his own. The world was too bright, sunny despite the tragedy that had happened, so he closed his eyes as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to Erik’s forehead. “You didn’t need to be better,” he whispered.


End file.
